San Jose Sharks’ Jonah Gadjovich (42) celebrates with teammates Tomas Hertl and Oskar Lindblom (23) after scoring during the second period at the United Center in Chicago on Sun Jan 1, 2023 (AP News photo)
by Matthew Harrington
The San Jose Sharks started the new year with a bang, beating the Chicago Blackhawks 5-2 from the United Center Sunday night. Erik Karlsson set the Sharks point streak record at 13 games with a pair of assists, 5 different Sharks scored and Oskar Lindblom and Logan Couture also had pairs of assists each.
Patrick Kane scored for the Blackhawks who have now lost 12 of their last 13 games to go with a league wide low of 20 points.Kane put the Blackhawks on the board first, scoring his 7th goal at the 6:40 mark of the second period. Sam Lafferty tipped a puck past Kaapo Kähkönen at the 13:30 mark for a 2-0 edge. Kähkönen would make 20 saves on 22 shots.
A rare goal from Jonah Gadjovich at the 15:12 mark on a netfront scrum tip-in pulled the Sharks within one, then Marc-Edouard Vlasic redirected a puck off a Matt Benning pass to tie the game 41 seconds later. It was Vlasic’s first goal of the year.
Alexander Barabanov gave the Sharks the lead late in the 2nd, beating Petr Mrazek with 1:26 left in the middle frame.
Mrazek would make 23 saves on 28 shots. Timo Meier scored his 21st of the year and Evegeny Svechnikov his 4th in the third.
The Sharks now get nearly a week off. They will face the Ducks in Anaheim before facing the Bruins at home Saturday.
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